


Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks

by TuckerPuppy (HarleyD)



Category: Prison Break
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, He was trying so hard, How the show should have gone, Mentions of Violence, One Shot, Redemption for Tbag, Since they spent a whole season on his character development arc, Slight AU in Season 4, T-bag Centric, and then threw it out the window
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 18:31:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10497021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarleyD/pseuds/TuckerPuppy
Summary: Story goes AU from when the general leaves T-bag with Sara.   They spent the whole season on his character development, his arc leading towards him being a better person and this goes AU to continue the arc.  He is trying to be a better person, he really is, even if no one seems to notice or care.  Maybe it isn't about what others think, maybe its about how he sees himself.Tbag centric, follows the path his character development was heading in before they tanked it.





	

            The sharp whistle cut through the loft and Theodore’s head snapped up from where he had been taking the hand cuffs off of Sara and his face flushed as he realized what he had done.  He wasn’t a dog to be called like that, wasn’t a new fish dangling off a pocket and he forced a mellow look when he met the General’s eyes, ignoring the smirk the man next to him had.

            “I have a name.”

            “Ah.  Teddy.”  He grit down on his teeth because he was sure that as much disrespect was meant with the nickname as with the whistle.  “What are you doing?”

            He glanced at Sara, licking his lips nervously and looked back, feeling like he was missing something.  “You uh, you said that we were bringing her to give to Scofield.”

            “The only thing I’m giving Scofield today is a slow death.”

            It wasn’t really surprising and he darted a look to Sara, feeling like he was scrambling, left out of the joke.  Why hadn’t anyone told him?

            They were heading out the door and he hesitated, half following them, but glanced at Sara.  “What about her?”

            The general stopped and looked at him, contempt clear on his face as he reached out to pat his shoulder like he was petting a dog.  When he spoke he did so slowly like Tbag was too dumb to follow, “Whatever you want _Teddy_.  Maybe we finally found something you are qualified to do.”

            His whole body tensed up so quickly he could only stand there.  All he wanted was to be respected, to do a good job, what had he done to get such disrespect when he had done everything the General asked of him.  He muttered out an okay as the General brushed by him, dismissive.

            “Good dog.”  The man behind the general sneered the words at him as they left and Theodore spent long moments staring after them, trying to control his temper.  It was pretty clear that he had no place in the company.  Despite what he had told the general he wouldn’t ever see him as anything more than a snitch.  An attack dog.

            He worked his jaw a few times to hide how much it hurt, to hide how embarrassed he was before he turned to look at Sara.  She was afraid, he could practically taste it and it should have excited him but he was just tired.  Tired of being used, tired being low man on the totem pole.  Tired of being expected to do the dirty work that no one else wanted to.  Heck, at this point he almost wished he was back in Fox River, at least he gotten some respect there.

            “Theodore.”

            He sighed deeply and waved his hand at her, “Save it, Mrs. Pretty.”  Hearing his first name was nice though, no Tbag, no mocking Teddy and he muttered to himself as he dug in his pocket for the handcuff key.  When he finally found it he looked up at her, watched her tense her body against the door.

            “You have to make them let me come back, you hear?”

            “What?”  He had caught her off guard and he would normally have enjoyed that, but he was in no mood.  No matter what he had threatened, what the general has _used_ him to threaten, he didn’t plan on raping her.  He didn’t want to be that person anymore, he was trying so hard to be better and nobody seemed to care.

            He grabbed her jaw, “I’m not going to say it again.  If I let you go, you need to make them let me stay. And not...”  He let go of her, not wanting to say the words out loud but he finally ground them out, “Not give me a beating when we get there.  Okay?”

            “You’re not going to-”

            “I never was.”  He met her eyes, and he wanted her to see the truth there but he was sure all she saw was the monster.  It was all anyone saw anymore.  “Whether you believe me or not, I wasn’t.”

            They stared at each other for a long time and Theodore was the first to look away.  She frantically nodded her head.  “Yes, yes.  I’ll make sure.”

            He shoved a phone in to her hands, “Here, call him before the General gets there.”  He reached down to uncuff her and he just barely had them off when her eyes darted up and behind him.  Too late he realized what that meant and started to turn but everything went black.

 

            Michael hefted the pipe in his hand, not sure if he should keep hitting the man once he was down but Sara was right there, grabbing his arm.  “He was letting me go.  He wanted to come back.”

            “He’s not coming with us.  We need to go, now.”

            Sara glanced down at the unconscious man and finally back up to Michael. They both knew the kind of person he was, but this time, this moment, he had been doing the right thing.  “If we leave him here the General will kill him when he gets back.  He was letting me go Michael.”

            With an aggravated sigh Michael finally came back, grabbing her hand and tugging her.  “There isn’t time.  We’ll come back for him later if we can.”

            Guilt made her stomach clench, but finally she followed Michael.  One right thing couldn’t make up for a lifetime of bad, and she believed Michael that if he could come back for him he would.

 

            Theodore slowly came to and it took a second for him to realize that he was staring at a pair of very nice, probably expensive, shoes.  He wasn’t sure what had happened, but his head was pounding and when he started to rouse someone grabbed his shoulder and shoved him on to his back.  He groaned and raised his hand to his head, coming away with blood.

            “Where the hell is Tancredi?”

            He winced at being yelled at and pushed himself up to a sitting position and looked around.  Sara was gone, somehow Michael must have gotten into the loft, and he glanced at the balcony.  He must have climbed up the side.  That was unexpected.  Also, they had left him, even after Sara had promised.  But they hadn’t bashed his brains in, so he supposed he had to call that even. It wasn’t like people not keeping their word to him was a new thing.

He chewed his lip for a second before he pushed to his feet, not meeting the General’s eyes.  They didn’t need to know that he had let her go.  He could still do this.  He rubbed his head where the throbbing was the worst, what the hell had he been hit with.  He realized the man was still waiting for an answer and muttered out, “Scofield showed up.  He must have taken her.”

            “I should have known I couldn’t even trust you with this.  Your level of incompetence is astounding Bagwell.” 

            He could feel his face flush and he turned and headed towards the sink to get a towel and see if there was any ice to put against his head.  No one stopped him and he finally settled in a chair, wincing.  “I’ve seen Scofield do many things, but I couldn’t anticipate that human fly was one of them.”

            “Men in my employ anticipate, they cover their bases. They refuse to fail, which you seem to be doing with unyielding consistency.”

            Theodore lifted his eyes to the General holding a gun on him and his stomach dropped, mouth going dry.  He scrambled to his feet, hands up in the air, not sure what he was going to say to him when the phone on the floor started to ring.

            He grabbed it, holding it up for him to see.  “It’s Sara’s.”

            The General didn’t look happy about it but he gave him a nod to answer and Tbag flipped it open, “Hello?”  The relief at hearing Sucre’s voice was embarrassing, because he knew that he had another chance here.  There was no coming back from the General holding a gun to his head, he knew that Sara was right, there was only one way this could end. 

            The gun never wavered on him while he set up a meeting with Sucre, and he hated that he could feel himself cringing the entire phone call, but after he hung up he held the phone out like it would ward off a bullet.  “I have a meeting with his friend in an hour, I’m your best bet.”

            The General looked like that was the worst news he could have gotten and he finally motioned at him with the gun, “One of my men will bring you.  Don’t fuck with me Bagwell, you don’t want to be put out to sleep in the dog house now, do you?”

            He shook his head, “No, sir.”  It was insulting that the man really believed he could treat him like this, could talk to him like that and he would still come running.  That he would still come to heel and take it in stride.  Oh, he’d go meet with Sucre but not for the reason the General wanted.

 

            Tbag shifted his weight, glancing around, wondering where Sucre was.  If he didn’t show he was positive the company man that had been sent with him would put a bullet in his head and he glanced over his shoulder at the man pretending to read a newspaper on the bench and startled when he looked back forward and Sucre was there.  “You are a sight for sore eyes, friend.”

            “Can the reunion.”  Sucre moved forward, threateningly, and Theodore realized he’d never be in with them either.  Not with the company, not with the feds, not with Pretty’s little rag tag group.  He didn’t give ground when Sucre crowded him, but not because he was trying to be tough.  He lowered his head and spoke quietly, “The man over my left shoulder, he’s a company operative.  It’s supposed to be a trap but,” he licked his lips and darted his eyes up, “but if you can help me get away from him I’m on your side.”

            A gun cocking behind his ear for the second time in one day made him flinch.  “Hello Jethro.”  He glanced behind him at C-note and beyond that the operative slumped over, either dead or unconscious, and he looked back to Sucre putting his hands up as they grabbed him and dragged him towards a car.

            “Hey, I’m on your side, just ask Pretty.  I helped his little lady escape and everything!”

            C-note was in the backseat with him, holding his one good arm pinned behind his back and a hand on the back of his neck, and he gave up trying to defend his position.  He’d wait until they got where they were going and give them whatever information they wanted. 

            Inside the room C-note dragged him in by the arm and shoved him hard, leaving him to stumble but he kept his feet and turned to face them, raising his hands again, repeating slowly, “I’m on your side.”

            “It doesn’t seem like it if you’re with the general.”

            “I was... I’m not anymore.  I let Sara go-”

            A hand grabbed him by the back of the neck and shoved him down hard over the table, knocking the wind out of him and making his already aching head throb more.  His temper was starting to get the best of him, because he wasn’t fighting them.  He wasn’t refusing to answer.  He didn’t deserve to be treated like this.  He snarled out, “I already said I’ll help you.”

            Sucre leaned down so he could meet his eyes, “Alright then, where is the general?”

 

 

            Theodore sat in the chair, waiting to hear what his fate would be.  The others were being exonerated but Kellerman had told him that if he did or not was up to them, and he was pretty sure what they were going to decide.  As Linc and Michael came out he could see it on their faces and he kept his mouth shut as Linc taunted him, and he noticed Michael only watched him with conflicted eyes, and he nodded at him once before he tucked his head against his shoulder.

            He didn’t expect Sara to stop in front of him and he muttered out, “You want to rub it in too, Doc?”

            “Thank you, Theodore.  For letting me go.”  He nodded and she had the same conflicted eyes as Michael, “You know though... we couldn’t...”

            He cut her off because he didn’t need pity.  He didn’t want pity.  He made sure his voice was confident, bordering on obnoxious and arrogant.  “No worries Mrs. Pretty.  I think it is about time to get back to Fox River anyways, probably gone all to hell without me there.”

            He didn’t watch her walk away and pushed down his disappointment that from the time they had escaped to now he’d gone nowhere.  He should have just stayed in Fox River, it would have saved him a lifetime of beat downs.  There were worst things in life than going back to his prison though, he’d waltz right back in to running the place.  Get himself some new tail.  It was a fitting life for him, he was sure he’d like it better than being some stuffy respected businessman anyways.

            And he could almost convince himself that was true.

           


End file.
